POST COMPUTER PROBLEMS IN THIS THREAD ONLY

[JesusAndYourBush]

I've gone to Uninstall a program and the fucker isn't there.

It'll be there, but listed under a manufacturers name rather than the name of the program.   Go to the entry for the program in the start menu but instead of selecting it, rightclick & select properties and look at the path and that should give you a clue.

[Famous Mortimer]

I was going to build a PC inside a betamax box, and got as far as hollowing it out and buying all the parts...then it literally fell to pieces as I was doing the last stages. So, I bought an actual media PC box and fitted it in 20 minutes. Which was nicer than the tons of work I'd have had to do to actually get everything stuck in the other.

Problem now is installing an OS which will play blu-rays. I'd have much rather had Linux, but it's going to have to be Windows. And it seems like downloading shonky copies off the internet is more of a pain in the behind than it used to be. The thought of paying for it makes my pirate's heart sad.

[Wilbur]

I was going to build a PC inside a betamax box, and got as far as hollowing it out and buying all the parts...then it literally fell to pieces as I was doing the last stages. So, I bought an actual media PC box and fitted it in 20 minutes. Which was nicer than the tons of work I'd have had to do to actually get everything stuck in the other.

Problem now is installing an OS which will play blu-rays. I'd have much rather had Linux, but it's going to have to be Windows. And it seems like downloading shonky copies off the internet is more of a pain in the behind than it used to be. The thought of paying for it makes my pirate's heart sad.

You can get a legit version of 7 for about £70. It's worth that to avoid the pain of BluRay and Linux I think.

[Famous Mortimer]

I probably will, it's just a bummer. I looked at the list of instructions for installing one off a torrent site, and I just couldn't be bothered to do all the fiddling.

On the plus side, I've just been offered a free Office 2010 code by someone at work, so there's that.

[MojoJojo]

Yeah, I had the same problem a few months ago in the old thread.
One bit of expected joy you'll probably have (I did) - you'll have to install drivers off the cd that came with your motherboard like some early noughties pleb because windows 7 is too old to have drivers for the ethernet hardware built into Sandy-bridge (or later) cpus.

Work is probably your best bet for a cheap copy - or you might be able to get a cheap license if you're a student of some description.

[Famous Mortimer]

The thing I was most amazed by, after I turned it on for the first time, is that I'd plugged everythng into the right slots. I know building a PC is just rich man's lego, but my basic level of competence cheered me up for hours.

[Wilbur]

The thing I was most amazed by, after I turned it on for the first time, is that I'd plugged everythng into the right slots. I know building a PC is just rich man's lego, but my basic level of competence cheered me up for hours.

Shush don't tell everyone how easy it is !

[Spiteface]

Right, switched from my godawful BT broadband to Sky today. Went OK, barring one or two hitches. One of which being my main desktop PC (which I only bought 11 months ago) does not do wireless. I could at a pinch, plug a really long ethernet cable into the router (there are four sockets for this) into the back and use it this way, but this would involve running a cable upstairs.  So I took to my laptop, looking up other solutions.

Am I right in thinking the thing I need is a Wireless Ethernet bridge? Anyone got any recommendations for a cheapish one that works?

[Puffin Chunks]

wireless usb adapter, mate:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=430581031

Or you can get a wireless PCI Card:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=430541031

usb would be easier, PCI more robust.

[Famous Mortimer]

I've got two of those Livewire boxes, that turn your electrical cables into a wired internet network. They work pretty well, too - streams HD without a hitch, and if you get the Western Digital ones, there's four ports so you can plug a console, a computer, a set-top box and whatever else into it.

[Wilbur]

I've got two of those Livewire boxes, that turn your electrical cables into a wired internet network. They work pretty well, too - streams HD without a hitch, and if you get the Western Digital ones, there's four ports so you can plug a console, a computer, a set-top box and whatever else into it.

Powerlines. I tend to use them in larger houses, it does depend on the house wiring to a certain extent but I think I've only not been able to use them in a couple of enormous mansions. I used to recommend the PCI cards over USB but the dongles are getting a lot better these days.

[Blumf]

I'll chip in with another vote for the powerline ethernet jobbies. Got some working surprisingly well here (crappy house wiring + on the ends of extension cables) and the older 200Mbps models are cheap and plentiful whilst being fine for media streaming.

Only problem is they almost all seem to be wall wart versions now, and stupidly big ones at that.

[SetToStun]

I used Home Plugs a few times for getting round wireless problems by using the mains ring and they came with a couple of limitations: you couldn't use them where the mains ring was split into two sections (e.g. upstairs and downstairs having independent consumer units), but this is rare in the UK; you couldn't have more than 10 or 12 (I forget which) plugs in the same house (and frankly, who would want to or even has that many rooms?); and you couldn't plug them into an extension strip with surge suppression. Other than that, they're absolutely brilliant.

[Too Many Cochranes]

I might need to use two of those network plugs. I'm in a shared house and two of us use the Internet, but the other two don't pay towards it.

Can you set up encryption on them so that if someone else bought one and plugged it in they couldn't tap into our Internet? Or do they come as a set of two or three etc. with built in encryption?

[MojoJojo]

They are encrypted - with mine you have to long press a button on one of them until the light starts flashing, and then you have a minute or so to go round to the other plugs and short press the button on them. They then exchange codes to encrypt everything with, and other plugs won't talk to them.

[Too Many Cochranes]

Muchos gracias. I'll look on Amazon for the encrypted ones.

[MojoJojo]

I think it's part of the HomePlug standard, so they should all do it. It's pretty much essential since it's possible the signals could go to your neighbours house or flat.

[Too Many Cochranes]

Yeah, I did think that myself about the whole street being on the same ring main. I assumed there was some kind of blocking technology at the leccy meter box or sub-station, but some of the sub-stations are so old I suppose most of these network boxes will have configurable encryption like the one you mention or come in pairs/triplets/quads set up to the same key.

[Famous Mortimer]

Bear in mind, all the ones I've seen apart from the Western Digital one have only one ethernet port, so if you have multiple internet things in the one place, that might cause a problem.

[Wilbur]

Bear in mind, all the ones I've seen apart from the Western Digital one have only one ethernet port, so if you have multiple internet things in the one place, that might cause a problem.

Just stick a switch in if that's required. Its not really what the PLs are for.

[MojoJojo]

Yeah - but it's worth bearing in mind you'll need another plug socket for that too. And if you actually have several devices needing ethernet connections in the same place you'll probably already be short of plug sockets. Wifi doesn't help much with that though.

(this was a frustration for me - those multiport ones cost a lot more while a switch costs a few quid, but I'd didn't have enough plug sockets - or space for another extension lead/tangle. Ended up getting a Powerline adaptor with a plug bypass, which wasn't quite as extortionate).

[Too Many Cochranes]

Cheers for all the help. It's just a Virgin router with one ethernet cable to plug into the wall\mains and I'm connecting to it by WiFi upstairs.

The other lad is moving into a converted garage down the bottom of the garden (which shares the house mains and water supply running under the lawn), so all we'll do is remove the ethernet from his PC and plug it into the wall. He can then plug the other powerline into a spare socket in his converted garage\granny flat and it saves him getting Virgin out to move the router down the garden, as it would be out of range down there.

[small_world]

Bit of a cheeky one this one...
Would anyone be able to help me forge some documentation???
It's just an EPC certificate. I've downloaded it as a PDF, and just need to alter the address. Fucking idiot who did the report had the wrong addrress, I didn't correct him, thinking it would never matter and now I need to show it to an estate agent...
So, yeah, is there any way of just clicking on the PDF and deleting a number and adding a new one??

[Too Many Cochranes]

I've used infix PDF editor before to change the address on my CV instead of typing the whole thing out again in Word (I'd lost my Word version).

I'm sure you'll find a download for it.

[mook]

Bit of a cheeky one this one...
Would anyone be able to help me forge some documentation???
It's just an EPC certificate. I've downloaded it as a PDF, and just need to alter the address. Fucking idiot who did the report had the wrong addrress, I didn't correct him, thinking it would never matter and now I need to show it to an estate agent...
So, yeah, is there any way of just clicking on the PDF and deleting a number and adding a new one??

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=free+pdf+editor+download&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[small_world]

Yeah yeah yeah. Just really if anyone had any good recommendation really....

Anyway, thanks TMC's, I found one through the normal channels. And it seems to have done the absolute trick... Let's just hope they don't bother searching the ref number.

[Blumf]

It'll be very amusing to see the shit that flies once people realise plain PDFs can be edited. It's tragic that there isn't more awareness of the existence and importance of digital signing.

[mook]

Yeah yeah yeah.

i wasn't taking the piss you snappy little cunt.

[SetToStun]

Indeed - if mook were taking the piss, he'd have posted this link instead.

[small_world]

i wasn't taking the piss you snappy little cunt.

Less of the 'little'...

Sorry mooky. Thank you. I did think you were havin' a bit of a piss take, but you've always been helpful in the past... So, thank you.
And have a nice kiss.

x

But yeah, that was really pretty easy and just saved me £100 at least.
As I said, the form does have a ref number on there, but I really doubt they'd check that, or they could have just pulled the EPC from the Landmark website by postcode...

I've got a bit of a quirie too on the online signatures/forms thing.
At work, we use MS word/office all that, but the guys out in the field use samsung galaxy notes.
What's the easiest way to transfer the files we use so they can be used on the notes? The idea being, the guys can train things out to the staff, then get them to sign off... So the word doc would have to be sign-able... Does that make sense?
Can it be done?